


the map that leads to you

by whisperedwords



Series: Thallen Week 2015 [1]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M, Thallen Week 2015, finding each other, mention of terminal illness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-25
Updated: 2015-05-25
Packaged: 2018-04-01 05:48:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4008196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whisperedwords/pseuds/whisperedwords
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Save your mom. Change the past. Have a normal, happy life. Besides, I’ll probably end up finding you there one way or another. I always will.”<br/>“Thanks.” Barry whispers, voice hoarse. “I—I know you will. I can’t wait to meet you there.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	the map that leads to you

**Author's Note:**

> for day 1 of thallen week!!! i couldn't think of anything ~super original~ for the soulmates prompt, so i pulled a cloud atlas, and barry and eddie found each other.

They’re curled up together in bed, underneath the thin sheets of Eddie’s bed. Sweaty and tired from the sex marathon they just finished, they’re both on the verge of falling asleep. Eddie leans over a little so that he’s as close as he can be to Barry without their faces being completely pressed together. “I love you. You know that, right?” Eddie’s voice is soft and a little rough, his lips right by Barry’s ear. Barry smiles a little. “Of course you know that. I wouldn’t have done _that_ with anyone who didn’t have my heart.” At that, Barry laughs, ducking his head and nuzzling against Eddie’s collarbone.

“Yeah, sure. Bet you tell that to all the speedsters.” Barry teases. He feels a hand gently cup the back of his head and allows it to lift it.

“Barry Allen, you are the only speedster I would _ever_ want to be with.” Eddie’s voice has gotten softer, if possible, and Barry feels tears prickling behind his eyes. He’s never really loved anyone the way he loves Eddie, and in this moment? He wishes he could spend the rest of his life here, curled up with him in his warm bed, feeling that little blossom of love exploding in his chest. There is nowhere on Earth that he would rather be right now.

“You’re a dork.” Barry says instead, scrunching his face up when Eddie presses a kiss to his nose. “You know I love you too.”

“I figured.” Eddie replies, his voice light. Barry laughs again. Then something shifts in the air—something _slight_ but noticeable to Barry. Eddie’s about to change the subject. “I think you should do it.”

“Do what?” Barry asks, but he knows. He knows already, and of _course_ Eddie would choose to come up with an answer now.

“Save your mom. Go back in time and change things.” He knows that Barry will interrupt him if given the chance, so he plows through it. “I am always going to love you, Bar. You know that. _I_ know that. You deserve happiness in your life, and you deserve a normal life as much as the rest of us. Save your mom. Grow up with your real family.” He takes a breath. “Besides, I’ll probably end up finding you there one way or another. I always will.”

The tears fall from Barry’s eyes. “Thanks.” He whispers, voice hoarse. “I—I know you will. I can’t wait to meet you there.”

* * *

 

He doesn’t say goodbye to Eddie before he goes through the pipeline. He’s made his choice—he’s not going to save her. He’s going to say goodbye, and then he’s going to come home. Back to his time. Back to Eddie’s arms. Back to stop the man who ruined so many lives to benefit his own.

Only things don’t go as planned (and when do they _ever_?), and Barry fights Eobard, and he’s losing, he’s _losing_ , and that vibrating hand is one thing, but—

A gunshot cuts through the noise, and Barry _feels_ it. Knows it’s not him that was shot, but the throbbing pain is there, and suddenly Eddie comes into view, smoking gun in hand, a red stain blossoming over his heart. Barry runs over before he realizes it, and catches Eddie as he sinks to the ground, body shaking, eyes glassy.

“Eddie… _Eddie_! Don’t go, please. _Please_ stay with me.”

“I told you, Barry. I’ll find you there.” Eddie’s voice is quiet and weak, and Barry feels like his whole world has just shattered apart around him.

(He hears Cisco in the back, talking about how Eobard can never exist in this timeline now that Eddie—well.)

(Barry lets his love, his _soulmate_ , get sucked into the vortex. He needs to be the Flash, now. The world needs him.)

(He needs Eddie.)

* * *

 

The next lifetime they meet, Barry goes by Blake, and he’s a professor at an esteemed college. He teaches Crime Scene Forensics, and is married with two children. Blake Abbott is his name. His wife was his high school sweetheart, and his four-year-old daughters are the most important things in his life. He’d do anything for them.

Barry—Blake—is sitting in his office, grading papers, when there’s a knock at his door. He turns in his chair and looks up to find a man standing there, a tentative smile on his face. He has blonde hair and bright blue eyes, and he looks like he’s genuinely excited to be in this school—something Blake doesn’t see too often. Call him intrigued.

“Professor Abbott?” He asks, and Blake nods, smiling even though he doesn’t know why. “I’m Emmett Thompson. I think I’m your TA?”

“You _think_?” Blake teases—and wait, _what_? He’s never been one to tease, or joke around, and as one of the most serious professors on campus, teasing is something he hates more than anything. Yet…Emmett shrugs in the doorway, his tentative smile broadening into something much brighter and more contagious.

“Stay right there, I’ll get my things and introduce you to the lab.” Blake says, standing rather clumsily and grabbing at his laptop bag before heading over to where his new TA had stepped into his office. (Another strange thing. Blake almost _never_ lets anyone into his office, probably due to the fact that he’s a _huge_ germophobe. And yet, here’s this new TA, who he feels like he knows already, standing in his office and smiling at him in a way that’s really, _really_ familiar. It’s kind of freaking Blake out.)

The lab is, of course, pretty simple to navigate, and after explaining an overview of the course, Emmett seems like he’s done this before. “I studied to become a CSI in the police department back home, but…” He shrugs. “Teaching ended up being something I kind of wanted to do. You know?”

Blake does.

“Well, we could use some more people who _want_ to be here at Central University.” At that, Emmett laughs, and Blake feels like he’s heard that before, too. (He doesn’t want to _stop_ hearing it, but that’s another issue entirely.)

“Yeah, I can see that.” He punches Blake’s shoulder affectionately ( _what?_ ) and chuckles. “Hey, do you wanna grab coffee? I think Jitters is still open.”

Blake says yes.

(He and Emmett decide to be crazy and give different names for their coffee orders. Blake chooses _Barry_ and Emmett chooses _Eddie_. It’s strange. It feels like he’s _drawn_ to those names. And where did that come from?)

* * *

 

In their next collision, Barry is a dying old man. Henry Adler, age 87, is saddled with emphysema and lung cancer. (“I used to smoke as a teenager,” he says with a smile. “I was so reckless.”) There’s not much tethering him to life, at the moment, though—his wife, Irene, had passed a few years earlier, due to health complications. Their children had become distant and lost communication with him, so all he has left is photos on his bedside table and fading memories.

“Henry?” His doctor, Cate, peers in, smiling her bright smile and distracting him from the wallowing he felt himself headed towards.

“Yes, dear?” He replies. She enters the room and, with her, brings a young man no older than 25.

“Shawna is out sick today, so your nightly nurse is going to be…”

“Eobard.” The man finishes, cringing a little at his own name. He rakes a hand through his short blonde hair and looks down for a moment.

“Eobard.” Cate repeats, coming to his bed and grabbing his hands. “I’m headed out for the evening, but I’ll see you tomorrow morning, okay?”

“Bright and early,” Henry responds, smiling up at her and closing his eyes for a few moments. (Cate has been like a daughter to him—seeing as his own was off traveling the world.)  “Tell Robert I said hello, won’t you?”

“I always do.” She responds, pressing a kiss to one hand and then walking out of the room. “Goodnight, Henry!” She calls from the hallway. The replacement nurse stands by the door, smiling but obviously looking uncomfortable.

“What did you say your name was again, son?” Henry asks, motioning him closer. The young man walks up to him, resting a hand on the side of his bed.

“Eobard, sir.”

“Call me Henry.” He says, patting Eobard’s hand. But when he looks up at the man, he’s startled at the familiarity of it. “You know, you look like someone I knew once.”

“Oh? Maybe you’ve seen me around the hospital, then—”

“No, no, no.” Henry interrupts, shaking his head. “In my dreams. You remind me of a boy I knew in my dreams a long time ago.” Remembering these dreams, he smiles a little, sinking back into his bed. “I knew him better than I knew the back of my own hand…” His attention snaps back into focus, and he looks up. “I have so many stories about him. Would you like to hear?”

“Of course, Henry.” Eobard replies, a small smile flitting onto his face. Henry thinks he’s in love with it.

“Well, this boy—I forget his name, but it didn’t matter. It never did. I remember his face so clearly…we were in love. I think we were, anyway. I know that I loved him. He was so beautiful and when he spoke, his voice was sincere and gentle and powerful all at once. He was a hero. He was…he was my hero.”

* * *

 

They crash into each other in this lifetime—quite literally, in fact. Malcolm Thorne and Bryan Allman are opposing players for rival rugby teams. But more than that, they’re seeing each other in secret. On the field, they’re the fiercest of competitors, and have on more than one occasion sent the other to the hospital with some pretty legitimate broken bones. Allman has a knack for speed, and mows players _over_ by running at their legs and dragging them down. Thorne is the smartest on his team, and thus calls the plays and wins games by outsmarting the opposing team. It’s said that, if the two were on the same team, they would be _lethal_. That rugby wouldn’t be the same because they would tear up every potential competitor and destroy them.

Away from the field, though, they could not be more opposite if they tried. Their field personalities are a show—as they usually are for most sports players, of course—but this is different. They spend most of their time at Malcolm’s place, a house settled in the middle of nowhere that allows them the privacy that they desire so much.

“Do we _really_ have another game this weekend?” Bryan moans, lying face-down on the huge bed. Malcolm chuckles, getting up from his seat at the dresser and padding over to crawl into bed with his secret lover.

“We do, I’m afraid. It’s too bad—I was looking to destroy your ass in something _other_ than rugby on Saturday.” Bryan snorts and rolls over onto his side. They’re lying close together now, nose-to-nose, propped up by a body pillow. “We don’t have to play, though…you’re still hurt from your match from Monday, and I—” He fake coughs. “I’ve come down with some _serious_ illness that requires lots of bedrest…”

“You’re a dork.” Bryan teases, poking his nose gently before kissing him softly. They part after a few moments, Malcolm smiling like he’s just won the lottery.

“You love it.”

“I guess I do.”

* * *

 

In this last lifetime, they’re best friends, and back to being Barry and Eddie. Only, of course, with a twist—Barry has been in love with Eddie for most of his life. It’s unfortunate, really, because they spend just about every waking moment together, and it’s maddening, because all Barry wants to do is kiss the _life_ out of him, and he’ll never know.

(He can’t know. He _can’t_.)

They’re at some music festival that came to their town, which Eddie dragged him to because “Dude, The Lab R.A.T.S are the BEST band of the decade!” and Barry doesn’t know how to say no to that smiling face. He really doesn’t.

They’re standing outside of the venue when Barry peels away from him for a few minutes. (To be fair, he thought he saw Iris, his _other_ best friend, walking through the back doors. It wasn’t her, but he swore he recognized the shine of her dark hair.)

The one thing he hadn’t accounted for, when chasing after her, was that he was going to lose Eddie. It’s not surprising, really, seeing as this festival was _huge_ and the fanbases for each of the 12 bands was enormous. But still—he had been thinking of Eddie, and of course, when he thinks of Eddie, everything else fades away. It’s a really bad habit. He’s got to work on that, too.

Panic starts to bubble in his chest. _Where’s Eddie?_ He probably had gone to grab seats, or maybe he saw that girl he’s been telling Barry about for the past two weeks and ran off with her. Or maybe something had happened to him. _Was he hurt?_ Barry hates himself for jumping to conclusions, but it’s part of his personality to overreact to just about everything. He can’t control when the worry turns on or off. _Where_ could he have gone?

Almost on cue, Eddie bursts through the crowd of people in front of Barry, breathing heavily, face red. “There you are, Barry!” Barry’s head snaps to look at his best friend, and a long, shaky sigh of relief escapes his lips. He runs up to him and grabs his arm, which Barry allows to be pulled towards the ticket booth. “I found you.”

“Yeah, you did.”


End file.
